Jim & I just had a belly laugh -
we are watching Sunday NFL countdown & they are covering controversial WR, Chad Johnson (aka Ocho Cinco). Emmitt Smith just said that Chad Johnson is an "Escape Goat". We were cracking up!!!!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Survival in DC
I survived another long week of work in DC this past week. I had a 7 am flight Monday morning, which means i have to get up by 4:15 in order to get ready, finish packing, make it to the airport, park, check baggage & get on the plane. There were a couple of bright spots in this week's travel - thank goodness - because it was a LONG week with lots of hours unfortunately.
Bright spot #1 - I got to see one of my old buddies from my old sector!! He was in town as well last week & was staying near the Pentagon. So I drove there to meet up with him for dinner on Monday night. He is a retired Navy guy who I worked with very closely in my last job as he was the Director of Contracts & I was of Business Management on the same program. So needless to say, we worked together a lot & became very good friends. He was like a surrogate dad in the office, as he is wise with lots of life experience, some good & some bad. His wife is a breast cancer survivor (happened in the past couple of years) and has had to completely rebuild his home after Katrina. On the good side of life experiences, he has been blessed with many grandchildren that he loves dearly!
Bright spot #2 - The new guy started!! WOOHOO! I had mentioned in a post a while back how i had basically been doing 3 jobs? Well that number should drop back now, as the guy we hired to take over one of the group business management jobs started this past monday. I tried to spend as much time as possible with him to bring him up to speed on our portfolio & issues going on with his programs (that I had been covering in the past couple of months). The quicker he gets up to speed, the quicker I can go back to concentrating on my particular responsibilities. Like I had mentioned to my boss & anybody else who would listen....I had been feeling like that poor chap in the cartoon that was sticking his fingers / toes / nose / elbow in the dam, but water would just squirt out somewhere else!!! I am glad to have someone standing at the dam with me again.
Bright spot #3 - No airport delays!!!! WOW! Write it down! I did have 30 minute delays on both ends, but I don't even count those as delays after the summer of traveling i have had!! So I made it there on time, and also made it back home Friday night on time. What a difference that makes.
Bright spot #4 - I was supposed to get together with an old friend from my old stomping grounds in MO (Salisbury, which is the neighboring town to my home town of Keytesville). My brother saw BM (not bowel movement, this is his initials) one weekend & mentioned that I had been traveling to DC with my job. Apparently he was also scheduled to be in the area at the same time, so we had tried to meet up. He is married to one of my old friends from high school too, and we know tons of the same people since we grew up in such a small town. It unfortunately didn't work out for us to get together because of the long hours I had to work, but we did get to catch up over the phone. It was great to find out about where all of our common friends were & what they were doing. I love those conversations - they are good to have every now & then to catch up on old friends.
Bright spot #5 - I had a great meeting with executive management while I was there. Don't want to go into any details here, but it was awesome!
Bright spot #6 - The new guy gave me a nickname "Ms Partly Sunny". It's not so much the nickname or this person giving it to me that was the bright spot. The bright spot was that my happiness must show through, even among the stress & long hours. It also reminded me that people are always watching & the best witness I can be for my God is to let others see Him through me.
So all in all, it was a good week at work.
I'm very glad to have Jim home too - he had a long week of work too. Check out his blog for the details (I am assuming he'll be posting about it).
Bright spot #1 - I got to see one of my old buddies from my old sector!! He was in town as well last week & was staying near the Pentagon. So I drove there to meet up with him for dinner on Monday night. He is a retired Navy guy who I worked with very closely in my last job as he was the Director of Contracts & I was of Business Management on the same program. So needless to say, we worked together a lot & became very good friends. He was like a surrogate dad in the office, as he is wise with lots of life experience, some good & some bad. His wife is a breast cancer survivor (happened in the past couple of years) and has had to completely rebuild his home after Katrina. On the good side of life experiences, he has been blessed with many grandchildren that he loves dearly!
Bright spot #2 - The new guy started!! WOOHOO! I had mentioned in a post a while back how i had basically been doing 3 jobs? Well that number should drop back now, as the guy we hired to take over one of the group business management jobs started this past monday. I tried to spend as much time as possible with him to bring him up to speed on our portfolio & issues going on with his programs (that I had been covering in the past couple of months). The quicker he gets up to speed, the quicker I can go back to concentrating on my particular responsibilities. Like I had mentioned to my boss & anybody else who would listen....I had been feeling like that poor chap in the cartoon that was sticking his fingers / toes / nose / elbow in the dam, but water would just squirt out somewhere else!!! I am glad to have someone standing at the dam with me again.
Bright spot #3 - No airport delays!!!! WOW! Write it down! I did have 30 minute delays on both ends, but I don't even count those as delays after the summer of traveling i have had!! So I made it there on time, and also made it back home Friday night on time. What a difference that makes.
Bright spot #4 - I was supposed to get together with an old friend from my old stomping grounds in MO (Salisbury, which is the neighboring town to my home town of Keytesville). My brother saw BM (not bowel movement, this is his initials) one weekend & mentioned that I had been traveling to DC with my job. Apparently he was also scheduled to be in the area at the same time, so we had tried to meet up. He is married to one of my old friends from high school too, and we know tons of the same people since we grew up in such a small town. It unfortunately didn't work out for us to get together because of the long hours I had to work, but we did get to catch up over the phone. It was great to find out about where all of our common friends were & what they were doing. I love those conversations - they are good to have every now & then to catch up on old friends.
Bright spot #5 - I had a great meeting with executive management while I was there. Don't want to go into any details here, but it was awesome!
Bright spot #6 - The new guy gave me a nickname "Ms Partly Sunny". It's not so much the nickname or this person giving it to me that was the bright spot. The bright spot was that my happiness must show through, even among the stress & long hours. It also reminded me that people are always watching & the best witness I can be for my God is to let others see Him through me.
So all in all, it was a good week at work.
I'm very glad to have Jim home too - he had a long week of work too. Check out his blog for the details (I am assuming he'll be posting about it).
Sunday, October 14, 2007
A Good Sunday
Jim left this morning for Memphis, TN for a week of training for his new job. He was anxious to get the training underway, so he can hit the pavement so to speak when he gets back. So since he left this morning around 9ish, I had the whole day by myself. I went on a 4 mile run this morning, but should have gotten up earlier to do it, because it was already hot by the time I got out there. I also have nice sunburn raccoon eyes. Then, I ate some lunch, watched my fantasy football team DOMINATE, and then decided to go to the beach to read & take a nap.
This trip to the beach was like no other. Unfortunately, the FL panhandle beach is suffering from "Red Tide" right now. Definitely click that link & read about it. I had never heard of such a thing until I saw it in this morning's paper. Yesterday, Jim & I ate lunch at Pompano Joe's on the beach & the purple flags were flying high indicating dangerous marine life. Today, there were no purple flags flying, so I thought I was home free. Not so much!
Apparently, not only is it very harmful to go into the water (I didn't!), but the effects of a red tide can also impact beachgoers without going into the water. The instant that I started walking in the sand toward the water to stake my spot to set up my chair & blanket, I started coughing uncontrollably! I had read about people going into the water & having side effects such as coughing / wheezing - but I didn't think just sitting in the sand would do the same thing. So I sipped on my water, but couldn't help but notice everyone else around me also hacking up their right lung. Most folks just got up & left saying things like "I can't even relax" and "I just can't handle this coughing anymore". I also left within about 1/2 hour because I just couldn't stop coughing. Once I got home, I was completely fine though! Crazy stuff, huh?
So once I got back home, I again watched football while snuggling with both of my kitties (NEVER at the same time - they are too jealous of each other). I just finished eating dinner, still watching football & just talked to Jim from his conference in Memphis.
I have an EARLY morning tomorrow, as I catch a 7 am flight to DC, which means I have to leave the house by 5:00 - which means up by 4ish. YIKES. Good thing I can sleep on the plane! Also a good thing that both of us are gone for the same week! Good for everyone except the fuzzy boys.
This trip to the beach was like no other. Unfortunately, the FL panhandle beach is suffering from "Red Tide" right now. Definitely click that link & read about it. I had never heard of such a thing until I saw it in this morning's paper. Yesterday, Jim & I ate lunch at Pompano Joe's on the beach & the purple flags were flying high indicating dangerous marine life. Today, there were no purple flags flying, so I thought I was home free. Not so much!
Apparently, not only is it very harmful to go into the water (I didn't!), but the effects of a red tide can also impact beachgoers without going into the water. The instant that I started walking in the sand toward the water to stake my spot to set up my chair & blanket, I started coughing uncontrollably! I had read about people going into the water & having side effects such as coughing / wheezing - but I didn't think just sitting in the sand would do the same thing. So I sipped on my water, but couldn't help but notice everyone else around me also hacking up their right lung. Most folks just got up & left saying things like "I can't even relax" and "I just can't handle this coughing anymore". I also left within about 1/2 hour because I just couldn't stop coughing. Once I got home, I was completely fine though! Crazy stuff, huh?
So once I got back home, I again watched football while snuggling with both of my kitties (NEVER at the same time - they are too jealous of each other). I just finished eating dinner, still watching football & just talked to Jim from his conference in Memphis.
I have an EARLY morning tomorrow, as I catch a 7 am flight to DC, which means I have to leave the house by 5:00 - which means up by 4ish. YIKES. Good thing I can sleep on the plane! Also a good thing that both of us are gone for the same week! Good for everyone except the fuzzy boys.
In case you hadn't already heard...
Mizzou lost :-(
There were opportunities, but we just didn't come through. Jim & I didn't go to Buffalo Wild Wings and instead went to a sports bar down the street called Sportsbook. There were about 4 other tables of Mizzou fans & they had seated us all in the same area of the dining room, so watching the game was a lot of fun. By the end of the night, we were all high-fiving each other! I wish the outcome would have been different, but I still think we hung with them for the most part. Norman, OK is a tough place to play.
There were opportunities, but we just didn't come through. Jim & I didn't go to Buffalo Wild Wings and instead went to a sports bar down the street called Sportsbook. There were about 4 other tables of Mizzou fans & they had seated us all in the same area of the dining room, so watching the game was a lot of fun. By the end of the night, we were all high-fiving each other! I wish the outcome would have been different, but I still think we hung with them for the most part. Norman, OK is a tough place to play.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
College Game Day!!
Guess where?! Covering the Missouri @ OU game! Jim & I are going to our local Buffalo Wild Wings to watch it tonight. There is just something fun & exciting about watching a good football game with a bunch of strangers.
Wonderful Weather
It has been SO nice here the past couple of days! It is in the 50s or so at night, 60s to low 70s in the morning & only up to 80 or so during the day. I am loving it! And so are our kitty boys. Anybody that knows our kitty Truman knows that he LOVES the outside. He lays by the window or in the window most of the day. SO now that the weather has turned off nice, we are able to open our windows - Truman is in HEAVEN!
We're moving to Orlando!
I am mentioned some hints about this in a few of my past posts, and most of you that read my blog have already heard about all of the excitement. But - there are others of you that I don't get to talk to as often, and probably haven't told you what is going on! So here's what's going on:
Obviously Jim wasn't seeking out new employment as we had just moved here & he was just given his own territory. We were perfectly content, although there were things about his job that we knew would get old, and he wouldn't do forever. For instance, he is basically pinned down to his territory - as he is the only one here. He was always on call, evenings & weekends, unless he works something out with a neighboring territory consultant. The only problem with that is, if that person that is covering a case in his own territory during the same weekend, and something may happen to come up in Jim's, the neighboring consultant would cover his own & leave Jim's unattended - which is exactly what he should have done & Jim would too. Customer service & being available at all times is one of the things that makes these guys successful in their jobs. So depending on which doctors were on call - that could be a killer in the customer service dept. So because of that, Jim just hated to leave the territory! Which was fine when we first moved here & during the summer, because seriously - where would we go! :) We were already in paradise! :)
But - that kind of schedule can wear on you and it made going on trips or visits to family hard to do. Like I said though, he wasn't actively looking for a new job.
He was contacted out of the blue by MULTIPLE head hunters within about a 2 week span -- very crazy. Lots of the opportunities were ones that he just turned down right away, but there was one that really peaked his interest. The company was actually one of the biggest competitors to his then current employeer. So as you can imagine, they were definitely willing to make sure the opportunity that they offered him was good enough for him to switch companies. But what really interested Jim in the position is that instead of being in orthapedic trauma (which has the crazy hours), he would be working in their spine division (which is usually elective surgery and scheduled in advance). So - no more weekends / evenings! And more $$$! What a great combo! His new territory spans Northern Florida...the entire panhandle - all the way to Jacksonville, down to Orlando & Tampa. His biggest accounts are in Orlando / Jacksonville, so we have chosen to move there to Orlando. We go on our first house hunting trip in 2 weeks & are super excited!!!
As for my job, I will be doing the same thing with my company. It actually benefits both my company & us, as the flights are cheaper from Orlando to DC and are direct (no more delays & cancellations on connecting flights!!! WOOHOO!). Also - I will be working out of our home instead of going into an office every day! I am really excited about that for sure.
So that's the story. I wish I could have told you all myself! We'll keep you posted on the househunting & new contact info when we have it. We are hoping to be moved by January. And just in case you were wondering - Jim has already nixxed the idea of Disney World season tickets....
Obviously Jim wasn't seeking out new employment as we had just moved here & he was just given his own territory. We were perfectly content, although there were things about his job that we knew would get old, and he wouldn't do forever. For instance, he is basically pinned down to his territory - as he is the only one here. He was always on call, evenings & weekends, unless he works something out with a neighboring territory consultant. The only problem with that is, if that person that is covering a case in his own territory during the same weekend, and something may happen to come up in Jim's, the neighboring consultant would cover his own & leave Jim's unattended - which is exactly what he should have done & Jim would too. Customer service & being available at all times is one of the things that makes these guys successful in their jobs. So depending on which doctors were on call - that could be a killer in the customer service dept. So because of that, Jim just hated to leave the territory! Which was fine when we first moved here & during the summer, because seriously - where would we go! :) We were already in paradise! :)
But - that kind of schedule can wear on you and it made going on trips or visits to family hard to do. Like I said though, he wasn't actively looking for a new job.
He was contacted out of the blue by MULTIPLE head hunters within about a 2 week span -- very crazy. Lots of the opportunities were ones that he just turned down right away, but there was one that really peaked his interest. The company was actually one of the biggest competitors to his then current employeer. So as you can imagine, they were definitely willing to make sure the opportunity that they offered him was good enough for him to switch companies. But what really interested Jim in the position is that instead of being in orthapedic trauma (which has the crazy hours), he would be working in their spine division (which is usually elective surgery and scheduled in advance). So - no more weekends / evenings! And more $$$! What a great combo! His new territory spans Northern Florida...the entire panhandle - all the way to Jacksonville, down to Orlando & Tampa. His biggest accounts are in Orlando / Jacksonville, so we have chosen to move there to Orlando. We go on our first house hunting trip in 2 weeks & are super excited!!!
As for my job, I will be doing the same thing with my company. It actually benefits both my company & us, as the flights are cheaper from Orlando to DC and are direct (no more delays & cancellations on connecting flights!!! WOOHOO!). Also - I will be working out of our home instead of going into an office every day! I am really excited about that for sure.
So that's the story. I wish I could have told you all myself! We'll keep you posted on the househunting & new contact info when we have it. We are hoping to be moved by January. And just in case you were wondering - Jim has already nixxed the idea of Disney World season tickets....
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Go Tigers!!!
Jim & I were extremely excited to find that our Missouri Tigers were going to be on National Television Saturday, Oct 6. Living in SEC country - we hardly ever get to see Big 12 games. If a Big 12 team is on TV, it is usually a South team (Texas teams or Oklahoma teams). SO....for Missouri to be playing Nebraska (arch rival!!) on ESPN Saturday night - WOOHOO!
Anyone that knows Missouri Tigers football history over the past 15 years or so knows they haven't been a GREAT team, but have become slightly better over the years, starting when I graduated. Since then, Missouri has invested in their athletic programs (read men's football/basketball) and definitely taken the facilities & program to the next level. Now, the football team has a covered practice field, new training facility and a much improved Faurot Field, including box seats & a jumbo tron. Another improvement to the team - QB Chase Daniel - what a stud!!!
Also over the past 15 years - the Tigers have always struggled in that BIG game, seeming to disappoint the Tiger Faithful Fans at least annually. Other things that don't help? Bad referees ( I know I know - we still can't forget) - that allow teams like Colorado to have 5 downs, and teams like Nebraska to have a completion for a TD from a kicked ball...illegal, not called). Nebraska went on to go undefeated that season & win the National Championship.
Back to my story....
We were SOOOO excited to watch the Tigers annihilate the Huskers on national TV! They killed them! It looked like they could score at will! The Huskers honestly did look flat, and played with no emotion...which also helped our cause. I thought that was crazy though, as the Tiger/Husker football rivalry has been heated as much as the KU/MU basketball rivalry. This is one game that usually both teams get up for.
Loved it loved it. Tigers start the season 5-0 for the second consecutive season & have a great chance at taking the Big 12 North, although Kansas looked impressive yesterday....
Anyone that knows Missouri Tigers football history over the past 15 years or so knows they haven't been a GREAT team, but have become slightly better over the years, starting when I graduated. Since then, Missouri has invested in their athletic programs (read men's football/basketball) and definitely taken the facilities & program to the next level. Now, the football team has a covered practice field, new training facility and a much improved Faurot Field, including box seats & a jumbo tron. Another improvement to the team - QB Chase Daniel - what a stud!!!
Also over the past 15 years - the Tigers have always struggled in that BIG game, seeming to disappoint the Tiger Faithful Fans at least annually. Other things that don't help? Bad referees ( I know I know - we still can't forget) - that allow teams like Colorado to have 5 downs, and teams like Nebraska to have a completion for a TD from a kicked ball...illegal, not called). Nebraska went on to go undefeated that season & win the National Championship.
Back to my story....
We were SOOOO excited to watch the Tigers annihilate the Huskers on national TV! They killed them! It looked like they could score at will! The Huskers honestly did look flat, and played with no emotion...which also helped our cause. I thought that was crazy though, as the Tiger/Husker football rivalry has been heated as much as the KU/MU basketball rivalry. This is one game that usually both teams get up for.
Loved it loved it. Tigers start the season 5-0 for the second consecutive season & have a great chance at taking the Big 12 North, although Kansas looked impressive yesterday....
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